When it comes to managing a dairy, both the cows and the dairyman benefit by deploying automated technologies. These technologies not only automate what can be considered a monotonous job, but more importantly, they passively and consistently collect information to better manage a herd.
Two areas of herd management where this data collection automation can provide the most benefit are in reproduction and in health.
And in the not-so-distant future, it is not far-fetched to believe that every cow will be wearing some sort of electronic activity monitoring device.
Electronic activity monitoring systems have become the backbone of many reproductive programs. These systems are no longer just for dairies that are innovators and early adoptors, but instead these systems can easily be implemented in any freestall herd that’s willing to make it work.
And like any automated system, activity monitors help the herd improve performance in three key areas:
1. Productivity – The end goal when using any activity monitoring system is to increase productivity. Improved productivity is achieved on two fronts through automation: better reproductive performance that puts a more productive cow in your barn and gains in labour efficiency.
With cows showing heats for as little as six hours and prime heat detection occurring between 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., there’s a lot of opportunity to miss seeing cows in heat.
Missing heats is costly, with herds failing to cross the 20 percent pregnancy rate mark because they fail to get their insemination rates up to the necessary 50 to 60 percent range.
A University of Guelph study recently showed that activity monitor systems can lower the days to pregnancy on a commercial dairy when comparing them to systems that are primarily timed-A.I. (TAI) based.
The study showed that in some herds activity monitoring could reduce days to pregnancy by more than 20 days. In terms of productivity, reduction in days to pregnancy by 20 days would mean an additional $100 per cow per year in your pocket.
Improving labour efficiency by reducing visual heat detection is often a cited reason for purchasing one of these systems. Although this is a common reason for purchasing a system, it is important to remember that the system is just a tool for you to use – it is not capable of managing your herd for you.
The time saved from visual heat detection needs to be invested into maximizing nutrition, environment and health management of your herd because activity systems work at their best when cows are cycling and live in an environment in which they can comfortably display estrous.
And if they do not show estrous three weeks after the end of your herd’s voluntary waiting period, you need to use the system to identify these cows and take the appropriate action in order to get them pregnant.
2. Heat detection quality – The second area of improvement is in the quality of the heats detected. Since the second generation of heat detection systems hit the market in the mid-2000s, some activity monitoring devices have been able to let users see when cows hit their peak activity.
By collecting data in hourly intervals, these systems are able to see when the heats begin and when peak activity is reached. In the past, with visual heat detection, you rarely would be able to tell if a cow is at the start, middle or end of her heat.
Being able to tell when the cow hits her peak activity is a big advantage when it comes to getting her pregnant. When a cow is bred prior to peak activity, conception can take as much as a 10 percent hit, and conception is lowered when cows are bred in the eight hours prior to peak activity.
However, in the 24 hours after peak activity, a dairyman can see improved conception from their breedings. Therefore, seeing peak activity in heats improves the quality of your heat detection and the timing of your breedings, which will work toward improving your conception rates.
3. Heat detection consistency – The final area that activity monitoring can help your herd’s reproductive program is in heat detection consistency.
Activity monitoring removes the variability in heat detection because you do not have to worry about who’s in the barn doing heat detection – or if you’re missing heats when you’re not in the barn.
This consistency is an underrated part of activity monitoring. Knowing that cows are being monitored 24/7 under the same set of ”eyes” gives you a baseline on estrous activity that you can manage your herd from. If the number of cows being detected by the system drops, you can quickly respond to possible anoestrus issues.
The next frontier in electronic monitoring devices is in health monitoring with a focus on the transition cow. Transition cows are in desperate need of automated data collection systems to help monitor and improve the decision-making processes surrounding this critical group.
The desire dairymen have for health monitoring can be seen in a survey collected by University of Guelph in 2010 that asked Canadian dairymen why they purchased an activity monitoring system.
The top two reasons that dairymen gave were not surprising. They purchased activity monitoring systems to improve reproductive performance and for labour reasons.
But the third-highest reason was a little more surprising in that dairymen said they purchased an activity monitoring system in order to improve health monitoring. This highlights a key to the future of these monitoring systems.
One of the exciting technologies designed to help dairymen available now is electronic rumination monitoring. Rumination monitoring can give an objective measurement of a cow’s health by counting the minutes she ruminates per day.
On average, a cow ruminates 450 to 500 minutes each day. When she deviates from her calculated average minutes of rumination, it can be an early sign of a health issue.
Early detection of health problems such as displaced abomasums and mastitis can be a big savings on the dairy, and rumination monitoring is a solution that can help dairymen automate their health monitoring and increase their profitability. PD
- Mark Carson
- Reproductive Solutions Manager
- EastGen
